A&B Update
A&B closes its two Vancouver stores
BRUCE CONSTANTINEAU, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
METRO VANCOUVER - Troubled Vancouver-based consumer electronics retailer A&B Sound has closed its two Vancouver stores - including its onetime flagship store at 556 Seymour Street and another on Marine Drive.
The closures leave A&B with just five remaining stores in North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Abbotsford, Langford and Edmonton. Just three years ago, the chain had 21 stores throughout Western Canada.
"It is with regret that we announce the immediate closure of both A&B Sound Vancouver locations," the company said in a news release. "Both stores were struggling. We determined that we could not turn the situation around and that the right business decision was to focus on our other locations."
A&B was founded by the Steiner family in 1959 and the Seymour Street store had operated at that location since 1965.
Richmond-based computer manufacturer Seanix Technology bought A&B for an estimated $25 million in March 2005 after the chain filed for court protection from creditors - citing $57 million in liabilities and assets worth considerably less.
A&B said in court filings that annual sales plunged from $270 million in 2003 to $220 million in 2004 due to intense competition from larger retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
BRUCE CONSTANTINEAU, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
METRO VANCOUVER - Troubled Vancouver-based consumer electronics retailer A&B Sound has closed its two Vancouver stores - including its onetime flagship store at 556 Seymour Street and another on Marine Drive.
The closures leave A&B with just five remaining stores in North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Abbotsford, Langford and Edmonton. Just three years ago, the chain had 21 stores throughout Western Canada.
"It is with regret that we announce the immediate closure of both A&B Sound Vancouver locations," the company said in a news release. "Both stores were struggling. We determined that we could not turn the situation around and that the right business decision was to focus on our other locations."
A&B was founded by the Steiner family in 1959 and the Seymour Street store had operated at that location since 1965.
Richmond-based computer manufacturer Seanix Technology bought A&B for an estimated $25 million in March 2005 after the chain filed for court protection from creditors - citing $57 million in liabilities and assets worth considerably less.
A&B said in court filings that annual sales plunged from $270 million in 2003 to $220 million in 2004 due to intense competition from larger retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
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